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Snicko takes responsibility for dud Carey decision
Andrew Slevison • December 18th, 2025 9:49 am
Snicko operator BBG Sports has taken full responsibility for a glitch which cost England dearly on Day 1 of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide.
Australian keeper-batsman Alex Carey, who went on to make 106 - his third Test century, appeared to edge the ball earlier in his innings only to be given not out.
Carey was on 72 when he played at a Josh Tongue delivery which was taken by English keeper Jamie Smith who quickly asked for a review.
But the initial decision of not out given by umpire Ahsan Raza was upheld and Carey, who admitted to feahering the ball, was free to continue his innings.
He made the most of the reprieve to reach triple figures, but it should have been a different story according to a BBG Sports statement.
“Given that Alex Carey admitted he had hit the ball in question, the only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the Snicko operator at the time must have selected the incorrect stump mic for audio processing,” read a statement to the BBC from BBG Sports, who operates the system for broadcaster Fox Sports.
“In light of this, BBG Sports takes full responsibility for the error.”
England is believed to be considering a formal complaint after the costly error.
SEN Cricket’s Gerard Whateley felt that technology failed the English on this occasion.
“On 72 there was a DRS review for an under edge, caught behind. There was a spike on the Snicko but it was far more than a couple of frames,” said Whateley.
“He’s hit it and the technology has failed. It’s not within the parameters to be able to give it out.
“So that’s a fail on all fronts. There is a safeguard there, it doesn’t have to marry up exactly but it has to be within a couple of frames. This is outside that realm.
“There’s nothing else that it can be. So Taufel says from his experience that it is out, but that’s not really how it applies.”
Whateley was referencing former umpire Simon Taufel who discussed the incident on Channel 7 immediately after.
“There was a caught behind called on Alex Carey. The DRS was applied and for the third umpire to overturn the not out decision, we need to see a clear deflection off the bat, or we have to see a spike next to the bat or up to one frame past the bat,” Taufel explained.
“The confusing element here for everyone was that the spike occurred at least a couple of frames before the bat. Which was just amazing.
“What was interesting in this particular case and in my experience, I have never seen a spike like this occur without the bat hitting something like a pad or the ground or the ball hitting the pad.
“There's nothing else out there, absolutely nothing else out there, so my gut tells me from all of my experience on field and also as a TV Umpire that I think Alex Carey has actually hit that ball and the technology calibration hasn't been quite right to game the outcome that it was looking for.”
Regardless, Carey was able to put the near-miss behind him and push through for a special hometown hundred which he dedicated to his late father Gordon.
Day 2 will resume from 10:30am AEDT (10am ACDT) with Australia 8/326. Mitch Starc (33) and Nathan Lyon (0) will be at the crease.
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